DIS: Kril Crossing the River Styx

DIS: Kril Crossing the River Styx

After about two hours resting in the worn-down, torn-up leather in the back of the mechanical creature on wheels, I began to wonder exactly where I was being taken. I tried to call out to the driver, but my voice was drowned out by the combination of the fuming engine, the static-filled sound spewing forth from the speakers on either side of the control panels, and the sound of rushing water from below.

...Wait a minute...Rushing water from below...?

That seemed out of place, so I jumped towards the smudge-covered viewing glass and looked out into the cave. To my utter alarm, the four wheels underneath the chassis of the colossal vehicle carrying me were completely submerged beneath the darkest, foulest-smelling liquid substance I had even seen or smelled. The purple froth that bubbled up in the wake behind us was somehow being carried with the machination, as if it were following it with a mind of its own. That idea came to a horrifying reality as a hideous creature, covered in the black ooze, leaped out of the liquid below and attempted to jump at me. Fortunately, it could not break the glass window, and it harmlessly collided with it, bouncing off with a quiet *thunk* and falling limply back into the sludge from whence it came.

Apparently, the driver had heard this, and he hit the control panel to his right with one of his brittle but powerful fists. Over the static from the speakers, I began to hear a pleasant female voice saying something, and I listened closely to its words:

"Hello, and welcome to the Underworld, the home of the deceased. We hope you enjoy your eternal stay here, as you aren't going to be brought back to life anytime soon. Below you is the River Styx, beyond which lie the Plains of the Dead. Your gracious host, Charon, is your driver and guide as you traverse this dreary, mile-wide mire. Please keep all windows rolled up at all times, as the souls of those who drowned in this river, having not had adequate payment for Charon and attempting to swim across instead, may attempt to attack you and drag you down into its depths to join them in an eternity of pain and suffering. Thank you, and enjoy your eternal rest in the armpits of the Underworld."

At first, I nearly felt like laughing; as nightmarish as this entire experience had been, I doubted that this place could have literally been Hell, and the way the automated woman's voice never faltered once was cause enough for anyone else to break out in hysterics. Still, I had reason not to be cheerful; if what that voice said was true, then I had died the moment before I had come crashing through the ceiling of this cave, and I had amnesia because I was no longer living. I began to splutter in confusion, not knowing whether to laugh, cry, or scream in anger. The driver, Charon, turned his gaze upon me in one of the massive prism-like mirrors hanging from the roof of the mechanical creature's interior, and his hollow eyes silenced me at once.

-----

After about four more hours driving through the sludge that was the River Styx, the metallic beast finally ground to a halt on dry land (that is, I presumed it was dry, compared to whatever we drove over on the River Styx; I still can't tell if that black substance was liquid or plasma). As I did, I felt the great machination lurch backward and freeze as Charon turned the key near the steering mechanism to a different position. He opened one of the doors, picked me up again, dropped me onto the ground outside the massive metal vehicle, then sped off into the cave, crossing back over the dark filth again.

As I tried to get my balance, I noticed a distinct difference in my surroundings. Unlike the cavern I had first fallen into, this new place was expansive, its plains vast and uninhabited. The ceiling and walls were so far from me that I could not see them in the darkness of the colossal chamber. Then I heard a voice from behind me clear its throat, and I whirled around to see a strange structure supporting three men, all wearing grey hair upon their heads and robes black as night around their bodies.

"I assume you've come to be judged, young man," the middle one said.

"...How do you mean," I replied slowly.

"Well, if you've just died, we've got to put you some place," he replied, somewhat perturbed by my lack of general knowledge. "Can't have you wandering around the Plains of Judgment for all time, can we now? Hm?"

"I...suppose not..."

"Well then, let's take a look at your death certificate, shall we? Now, I know I have a copy of it somewhere...Ah, here we are...!! Oh my...!!"

The towering man reached beneath his towering desk and let a large ream of paper fall onto his table with a thunderous *SLAM*. Going bug-eyed over the size of it, he skimmed over the writing on it, flipping pages one after another. As the cover page turned over, I could clearly see my name printed in immense, bold black letters. I also saw the man's name emblazoned on a large sign at the edge of his desk, which read: "AEACUS - JUDGE OF THE EUROPEAN SOULS".